+$500 plenty of movement down from sup/res. Traded the cross of the midline.

+$500 retrace off of channel

+$500 traded the fail of resistance levels.

+$500 trading the pullback from the overnight rally.

The market will be closed this evening and Friday, so here is what I look at when I log into NT.

1) What does the overall market look like:

2pm CST today: Indicies are in green and bonds have bounced back into green.


2) Pull up a longer term chart. Maybe a 30 min period will show some detail.

The price has risen from yesterday and is in a nice uptrend.


3) What is the news reporting for the pre-market or overall market. Are there any news events to watch out for, ECB speeches, reports to be released today etc.
https://newsquawk.com/blog
https://www.cnbc.com/pre-markets/
https://www.cnbc.com/us-markets/
https://www.forexfactory.com/index.php


4) Drop down to a chart that reflects the current market action. (2000tick, 610tick, 377tick)

2000 tick: price is moving lower from the uptrend.



610 tick: price is almost at the VWAP, and trending down.



377 tick: price is at possible support area



5) We need to make sure we are not blinded by the smaller time frame compared to the larger direction we saw before. We need a pullback near a channel , 21ema area, or range to be interested in a trade. It is better to wait for a good setup.

6) If we did find a good area, we pull up the Jigsaw DOM and see where the orders are going.

I look for areas that are double or greater orders than the norm. Here we see 206 sell orders at a price level with more being added. On the other side, we see some orders being pulled from some levels and adds to others. We are also below the areas where more volume has traded.


7) If I were to take a trade, the lots would need to be small enough so that I can hold to my stop. 1 lot per 5K will allow me to leg into the trade if it pulls back into a draw down. The target for the second entry would need to be enough to cover the loss of the first trade and a bit more to make up for the risk that was taken. PATS would have you out at 8 ticks SL and 4 ticks target for example. If you trade ZB you might can do this but for the ES, you would be stopped out quite a bit. One idea that I have used is to have 3 targets: 1 small range target, 1 medium range target and the last lot for a runner with a trailing stop.

+$500 Sell at R1. over 150 orders were sitting on the DOM at that price compared to 20 or 30 at the other levels.

The pre-market was a bit slow but I managed to close one of my trades. I waited for the regular session to trade a few more trades. I could not get enough contracts in the pre-market.

Gross Profit for last night+this morning: $2062.50

I have started to add a few trades in the evening on those days where I have an appointment in the mornings. This takes some of the edge off of missing a trading session. Of course, I have to adjust to the volatility of the China Open. I was on the wrong side last night but managed to make a few ticks anyway. If I had followed my trading plan, I would have been in the correct direction.

Gross Profit from evening session $2000.00

80 ticks just playing the back and forth. The market is trying to find balance.

+$500 Small uptrend from the lows.